Esmerelda Strange -2 albums

Artist: Esmerelda Strange
Album: Introducing / Strange Encounters
Released: 2005 / 2007
Quality: mp3 VBR ~ 200 / CBR 160
Size: 105 MB

Ms. Strange would describe herself as a punk rock band, but her musical influences and the resulting product contain elements of urban folk, cumbia, circus music, Norteno/ranchero, and an Eastern European gypsy sound. She sings both in English and Spanish. She is known for her saucy sense of humor and salty lyrics. Her music has been described as "acoustic electro-clash goes to the punk rock circus in Mexico." ©

TRACK OF THE DAY - Tuba Skinny

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Tame Impala (2010) -Innerspeaker

Artist: Tame Impala
Album: Innerspeaker
Released: 2010
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 126 MB

Innerspeaker is a psychedelia-heavy outing that toys with paisley pop, stoner vibes, and an expansive array of swirling guitars.
On first listen, Innerspeaker provides a lot of dots to connect: There are patches of late-60s American psychedelia, buzzy Motor City riffage, and decades of British pop, ranging from the pastoral pop of the Kinks to the vivid expansiveness of the Verve to the narcotic warmth of the Stone Roses. Frontman Kevin Parker shares an eerie vocal similarity with John Lennon, both in tone and in the way he allows his voice to soar with each melodic turn or rhythmic surge. Though most of the album is a little restrained lyrically, Parker's rapturous phrasing conveys the meaning. Mixed by Flaming Lips collaborator Dave Fridmann, each component is here is set on an even plane, allowing bass lines and delay-swept guitar bursts to melt into one another, cultivating a uniform feel that's vintage, far-out, and irrepressibly cool. more on Pitchfork.com

TRACK OF THE DAY - Guadalupe Plata

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Bullfrog Brown (2008 / 2009) -Twelve Live Warthogs / Moon & Central

Artist: Bullfrog Brown
Album: Twelve Live Warthogs / Moon & Central
Released: 2008 / 2009
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 81 / 82 MB

As critics alternate between “more real than the real thing” (René Malines, “Virus de Blues”) and “all of this punk rock blues experimentation has finally been perfected” (Eric Gebhardt, “Blues In London”), Bullfrog Brown feel equally at home backing Mississippi blues legends such as Honeyboy Edwards and rubbing shoulders with the likes of Sweden’s Deltahead at alt.blues events. …Bullfrog Brown stand as the best-known Estonian act on the blues scene.©

Horacio Franco, Víctor Flores (2002) -Del Medioevo Al Danzón

Artist: Horacio Franco & Victor Flores
Albums: Del Medioevo Al Danzón
Release date: 2002
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 113 MB

The sweet sound of the recorder and the (sometimes) ungainly ones of the double bass invite us into this journey that will take us from austere Medieval churches up to the steamy, sweaty dance halls where danzón (a popular dance, invented in Cuba 100 years ago) is paid tribute. Along the way, we will also pass throough genteel Baroque chambers, where courtly dances are executed, and we will also be privy to the enjoyment of a panorama of music’s finest moments, all interpreted by two prodigious performers. ~ from the liner notes

Various Artists (2009) -Sevilla Calling

Artist: various
Album: Sevilla Calling
Released: 2009
Quality: mp3 CBR 192
Size: 97 MB

A tribute to the 30th anniversary of "London Calling" album released by "The Clash" in 1979. Local bands of different styles from Sevilla, Spain, reconstruct the album by their own versions of the tracks.

Sick Sick Sinners (2008 / 2011) -Road Of Sin / Hospital Hell

Artist: Sick Sick Sinners
Album: Road Of Sin / Hospital Hell
Released: 2008 / 2011
Quality: mp3 CBR 320 / 256
Size: 141 MB

The Sick Sick Sinners are a psychobilly trio composed of Vlad, Mutant Cox and Magrão from Curitiba, Brazil. The trio was born out of a few rehearsals at Mutant Cox's house in 2005. Around that time Cox discovered he was stuck playing the slap bass instead of the guitar as he originally planned. Vlad and Cox used to play together with "Os Cervejas" and then "Os Catalépticos". Duma came to play drums and together they recorded their first demo "We are the Sick Sick Sinners" which would eventually help spread their name beyond Brazil.

TRACK OF THE DAY - Peccatum

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Enzo Pietropaoli Quartet (2011) -Yatra

Artist: Enzo Pietropaoli Quartet
Album: Yatra
Released: 2011
Quality: FLAC (tracks)
Size: 301 MB

TRACK OF THE DAY - Emperor

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Various Artists (2001 / 2008) -Wizzz! Vol.1 & 2

Artist: various
Album: Wizzz! Vol. 1 & 2
Released: 2001 / 2008
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 92 / 92 MB

”Love the French or hate 'em, it's virtually impossible to deny the appeal of vintage French pop -- ya-ya this and go-go that, the best stuff's a mind-bending fusion of sunshine pop, psychedelic soul, and sleazy cabaret, a Eurotrash celebration of sex and drugs presumably fueled by same. Wizzz: Psychorama Francais 1966-1971 is a fantastic retrospective that captures the sheer excess of its era, musical and otherwise -- the songs stagger across the tightrope separating Now Sound grooves and blaxploitation funk, complete with fuzz-soaked guitars, deep bass, squawking horns, and thick, swirling organs.” ~Jason Ankeny, Allmusic.com

Various Artists (2010) -Their Hispanic Majesties Request [EP]

Artist: various
Album: Their Hispanic Majesties Request [EP]
Released: 2010
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 38 MB

Four Stones’ songs sung in Spanish by four Hispanic garage bands. Enjoy!

TRACK OF THE DAY - Георгий Матвиив

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The Cinematic Orchestra (2002) -Every Day

Artist: The Cinematic Orchestra
Album: Every Day
Released: 2011
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 140 MB

Every Day, the Cinematic Orchestra's third full-length release, proves that occasionally it's not what you do that really counts, but whom you do it with. By enlisting new recruits to his Orchestra, Jason Swinscoe has sloughed the derivative mannerisms that marred 1999's Motion and 2000's Remixes 1998-2000-- where those two albums sounded stiff and crippled by the weight of overt influence, Every Day is both stately and loose. And by ditching his Miles Davis/Gil Evans stance and embracing freer jazz elements, Swinscoe has finally achieved a much-needed spaciousness and grandeur in his music. more on Pitchfork.com

TRACK OF THE DAY - The Coffin Daggers

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TRACK OF THE DAY - Slayer

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The Hillbilly Moon Explosion (2011) -Buy, Beg or Steal

Artist: The Hillbilly Moon Explosion
Album: Buy, Beg or Steal
Released: 2011
Quality: mp3 CBR 256
Size: 61 MB

2011 release from the Pan-European Rock revivalists fronted by Emanuela Hutter and Oliver Baroni. Making waves from their home-town of Zurich, they recently turned down an invitation to be the Swiss Eurovision entry. Known to many for their mini-hit 'Johnny Are You Gay?', a recent retrospective has powered them gigging across Europe, including TV shows and with Jeff Beck. Highlights of Buy Beg or Steal include a Rockabilly cover of 'Enola Gay' and the duet between Demented Are Go's Sparky ("the tattooed bloody undead Sinatra") and Emanuela. Gold Top.

Various Artists (2011) -Steam Kodok: 26 A Go-Go Ultrarities from the Sixties Singapore and South-East Asia Underground

Artist: various
Album: Steam Kodok: 26 A Go-Go Ultrarities from the Sixties Singapore and South-East Asia Underground
Released: 2011
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 186 MB (with scans)

”For the Grey Past imprint, "a-go-go" seems to encompass everything from beat to 50s soul to surf rock to psychedelia, and for this reason-- whether it's intentional or not-- Steam Kodok thankfully avoids a major pitfall many ethnic samplers plunge headlong into: all too often, the songs are so similar, it makes for a bloated and tedious compilation.

Anyone aroused at the mere mention of 60s beat probably already owns Steam Kodok, but beyond its topical value, this compilation is a remarkable historical document of the effect rock music had on the rest of the world, particularly the East. Up until 1961, the South-East Asian scene was almost entirely instrumental; music was situational: culturally significant, but otherwise insignificant per se. As the Western influence crept in via the increasingly popular Beatles and, says Grey Past, a late 1961 concert by Cliff Richard and The Shadows, South-East Asia eschewed the musical collective and embraced the concept of the "band"-- steady members, writing songs for their own entertainment.

Beyond "significance," though, these songs are utterly enjoyable. South-East Asian musicians were hardly big-budget pop stars, nor did they taut extensive rock pedigrees, and therein lies the charm of Steam Kodok: singers' voices are incongruous but delightfully honest, and the actual compositions-- though necessarily somewhat derivative-- have such a passion that even track 21's note-for-note aping of a Carlos Santana solo is forgiven. The positive energy of each song is just staggering-- Steam Kodok is the sound of a culture thrilled by the prospect of rock-and-roll, overjoyed and unable to stop smiling.” more at Pitchfork.com

Various Artists (2009) -Raks Raks Raks: 27 garage psych nuggets from the Iranian 60s scene

Artist: various
Album: Raks Raks Raks: 27 garage psych nuggets from the Iranian 60s scene
Released: 2009
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 175 MB

”I’m glad someone finally bent over, and has spend a fortune on Iranian rarities and in his ambition proved the existence of a now neglected even forbidden from memory scene from which I did not even know it ever had a real 60s reference too. The compiler didn’t want to make any statements ; he just loved the music. But still it is sad that because of other taboos pictures of western styled women or bands with a women singer or drummer (like Golden Ring) are even more rare (I wish he had included another band picture of them for that reason). If Iranian costumers finds them anywhere they are immediately ripped to pieces. “Modern Iran” tries to wipe out history and the fact that women were not always dressed as they are today in Iran (-even in Persian museums you never see women on paintings with shawls the way it is instructed today by the first Islamic pope-based society in history). Included in this compilation are the really earliest traces of modern pop music, from rock’n roll over garage to 60s pop music, and one longer track from the more known 70s styles from Iran. What is especially rewarding is its use of rhythms. The complexity of it is incomparable to any of the Western 4/4 based easy going smoothness. The songs however remain relatively relaxed as being typical for Iran (compared to for instance the Lebanese Cedars, which are much more up tempo and attractively nervous compared to this).

Compared to the 19 track LP this 27 track CD has a few extra surprises in garage and rock’n roll style and a few extra 60s covers in a Persian way. Most of the later tracks however (track 22-26) are less essential, mostly from the rock’n roll area, but they still give an idea of how such less creative tracks can still show some minor mixed style/crossover elements. Different and more funky and groovy than all other tracks together (perhaps also because this is from a few years later) and with a more "free" feeling is Gogoosh’s track “respect” (with sax, organ, electric guitars and drums and heavy screaming vocals, definitely influenced by the American scene with Janis Joplin, ..). Strange is also the Morricone western-typed whistling intro on Golden Ring's A-side, and some harmonica besides organ/fast rhythms. A few tracks less would have made this a nearly perfectly compiled, a must-have album, but I won’t complain for an even more complete picture of a unique historical document, of music in its essence is great to listen to as well! Compilation of over 76 minutes.

The compiler just told me he kept the killers for a second volume later this year. Compared to what is already compiled here I can't imagine what more surprising things to expect. .” © Psychemusic.org

Grant Black (2011) -Babylon [EP]

Artist: Grant Black
Album: Babylon [EP]
Released: 2011
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 61 MB

Addison County musician Josh Brooks is known for an Americana/folk-rock sound that he explored on works such as his 2006 EP “The White House Sessions,” but on this project with drummer and father-in-law Kent Blackmer he’s angling toward something rowdier, with a crunching Texas-blues-rock beat. Brooks displays a rugged growl on tracks such as “Hey Mama” (exploring the universal blues-rock theme of lust) and “Money” (exploring the universal blues-rock theme of poverty) which like all the tracks on this six-song effort break no new ground. Still, Grant Black’s debut is a mini-album that propels forward on high-testosterone energy and uncluttered but punchy production by Brooks and Chris Clark. by Bert Hallenbeck

Various Artists (2002) -O Blues, Where Art Thou?

Artist: various
Album: O Blues, Where Art Thou?
Released: 2002
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 90 MB

Legendary producer Bob Shad formed his own label, Sittin' In With, in 1948, and recorded a number of blues and R&B artists through the 1950s, several of which are included in this collection. These were essentially modern field recordings, tracked on a Magnecord tape machine, and the sound is generally pretty good, if a bit rough in places, all of which is made up for by the high level of immediacy and intimacy on display here. While the title recalls the Coen Brothers film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, these are mostly electric recordings, and represent an era at least a couple of decades down the road from the time period covered in the film. Listeners expecting rural acoustic blues may be disappointed, but the charm of these recordings is everywhere evident. Highlights include the bouncy "Junco Partner" by Wayne James, and an ominous version of "Bad Boy" by John Lee Hooker. by Steve Leggett, Allmusic

TRACK OF THE DAY - In My Rosary

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Don Drummond (2000) -Jazz Ska Attack 1964

Artist: Don Drummond
Album: Jazz Ska Attack 1964
Released: 2000
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 120 MB

Drummond was one of the top soloists and most creative musical minds of Jamaica's ska era. His apex came in 1964 when he and fellow Skatalites, like saxophonists Tommy McCook and Roland Alphonso, organist Jackie Mittoo, Lester Sterling, and trumpeter Johnny "Dizzy" Moore, ruled Kingston's musical scene as the virtual house band for producers Clement Dodd, Duke Reid, George Phang, and many others. Drummond's lopey sounding yet technically superb trombone work stood out on all the Skatalites sessions, whether the band was cutting some of its own records or backing numerous singers like Alton Ellis and Delroy Wilson. This fine Drummond roundup on Jet Set brings together many of the trombonist best Skatalites sides from 1964, including such self-penned classics as "Musical Storeroom", "Eastern Standard Time" and "Don-de-Lion" A great introduction to this most talented of Jamaican jazz masters. ~ Stephen Cook, All Music Guide

TRACK OF THE DAY - The Pussywarmers

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Ty Segall (2011) -Goodbye Bread

Artist: Ty Segall
Album: Goodbye Bread
Released: 2011
Quality: mp3 CBR 320
Size: 76 MB

”…In Goodbye Bread, his first full-length for Drag City, Segall has embraced singer-songwriter craft wholeheartedly. While garage rock O.G.s like the Troggs and the Stooges continue to be an influence, Segall has turned in a relatively calm effort here, choosing to downshift into slower tempos and cleaner sounds, evoking instead the work of John Lennon, Neil Young, and Marc Bolan. Heavyweights. But what makes Goodbye Bread such a success is that we get an even keener sense of what a Ty Segall song sounds like and what that means. Jay Reatard, whose wild-child persona has often been linked to Segall since the former's passing last year, proved that it takes a little more to stand out in this sphere. The same dark energy that set "Girlfriend" in motion can be heard here in varying forms, whether in the enormous chorus of "My Head Explodes" (a head-bangers delight), the wheelie-popping solo that slices through "Comfortable Home (A True Story)", or the sweaty, shivering verses of "You Make The Sun Fry". Though Goodbye Bread rarely takes a direct route, the thrill becomes much more about the ride from start to finish, than the speed or force of impact.” MORE REVIEW